As a Hopkins Alum I agree with the greatest program ever statement. But I am certainly biased. Sadly, they do not have the most national titles. Sarycuse has 10, Hopkins 9. Hopkins does however have the most championship game appearances if that is worth anything.

Of the Hopkins band's (a motley but spirited crew) functions when I was an undergrad was to mock the cheerleaders at football games. Cheerleaders are not part of the lax game day experience at Homewood, and I doubt they ever will.

Athletically, M matched up with Hopkins much better than last year. The Blue Jays were not simply outrunning and out-muscling them like last year. M even won the ground ball battle which is amazing.

Faceoffs - after winning 0 last year vs Hopkins, Michigan won the FO battle this year. Brad Lott is going to be excellent.

Riding - M forced a few failure-to-advance calls and other turnovers.

The Bad:

Goaltending - you gotta feel for the freshman back-up who has to start against Hopkins in his fourth career game. On most of the goals there wasnt anything he could do, but it seemed like there were a few he could have stopped. He did make a few spectacular saves at the end. Having Logan maybe would have made it a little tighter.

Shot selection & Offensive possessions. When Hopkins went on their runs, M helped them out a lot. Hop's goalie was amazing and he made a number of great saves but Michigan also hooked him up with a bunch of soft, stick-side high meatballs. They quickly cleared it out each time and put Michigan back on its heels. Michigan also did not take care of the ball when they did create a rare turnover. I was surprised they didnt try to slow the game down more to stave off the Hopkins counterattacks.

The Ugly:

The defense is not aggressive or physical. I don't think there's ever been a game in Hopkins' history in which the attackmen didnt have to ice down any nicks or bruises afterwards. Michigan doesn't throw checks, like at all. Additionally, their defensive schemes involve a lot of weird switching which only confuses the defense and does nothing to disrupt the opposing offense. They need to re-think the defense big time.

They have Cornell this week in Oosterbahn which could be rough. But after that they go on a spring break trip to the south to take on Furman and High Point which could be wins. Go Blue!